Around Here editor/writer

A Carlton couple is trying to find their pet tortoise of 17 years who heeded the call of nature and went looking for a mate.

Zip, an African Spur Thigh tortoise, forced his way out of a backyard fence Friday night and possibly wandered off into the 1,000-acre tract of woods behind the home of his owners Susan and Kerry Fisher.

“We actually hired a professional tracker with tracking dogs and they searched all day and couldn’t find him,” Susan Fisher said Wednesday.

“I feel obligated to do whatever I can do to get him back because he will not survive the winter in Georgia,” she said about the 50-pound tortoise, which is a native of the Sahara Desert. “This time of the year is their breeding season, and when the mornings get cooler, it triggers them to start looking for a mate.”

Last year, the Fishers installed hog panel fencing to fortify their yard, but Zip pushed and pushed on the fence until the nails came loose from the wood poles, she said.

The Fishers have put out fliers and contacted those who might receive a report of an unusually large turtle.

“He’s a very solid, sturdy animal, so not much could hurt him except maybe a car,” Fisher said. “But because of where we’re located, I don’t think he will get on a major highway.”

There are other dangers, though.

“A lot of people in Madison County eat turtles,” she said. “They make turtle mull. so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities that someone would pick him up for that.”